Eddie Gran, a key member of Tommy Tuberville's coaching staff at Auburn and Ole Miss for 14 years, is staying in the Southeastern Conference.

Tennessee has hired Gran to coach running backs and the special teams, the same jobs he had at Auburn. Gran, who was interviewed three times by Tennessee, will be in Knoxville today and will hit the recruiting trail Sunday.

Gran was at Auburn the last 10 seasons and produced some of the most productive running backs in school history, including successfully teaming NFL first-round picks Ronnie Brown and Carnell Williams.

Also, in one of those strange coaching twists, Terry Price, who followed Tuberville from Ole Miss to Auburn and then followed Paul Rhoads to Iowa State, is returning to Ole Miss as a defensive line coach to replace Tracy Rocker, who was just hired at Auburn. Price is leaving Rhoads and Iowa State after being hired earlier this month.

.Terry Price

Gran's other Auburn running backs included Rudi Johnson, Kenny Irons and Heath Evans. Seven former Gran running backs were in the NFL this season.

Tennessee also raided the state on Thursday when it hired linebackers coach Lance Thompson from Alabama.

Price was with Tuberville for four years at Ole Miss. His wife, Kenya, is from Oxford.

He shared defensive line responsibilities at Auburn. He coached the defensive ends and Don Dunn coached the tackles.

Gran is the fourth coach from Tuberville's staff to land a college coaching job..